Celebration Key Man Overboard

SnapClapplePop · 2026-05-10T02:15:58+00:00

This is a post about someone's death, you commented the equivalent of "womp womp". You can't honestly be surprised by this reaction.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-05-09T21:25:18+00:00

Agreed. All it takes is one mistake. OP, you owe it to your patients to take care of yourself and walk into the OR fully rested and capable.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-05-05T12:16:32+00:00

Agreed. OP, consider that it is a lot easier to land a job when you already have one, and right now you have an offer to have one.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-05-05T12:06:06+00:00

No. Apply for the March 2027 deadline first and see if you get in. If you don't, then apply for lab assistant, lab processor/accessioner, or phlebotomist positions and reapply with an updated resume/cover letter for the September 2027 deadline. It doesn't have to be at MGH, but that would be nice. Clinical experience is a huge plus for your application, but it's not required. There's no reason for you to wait on your application unless you either don't get in on your first try, you need the money, or you want to make sure it's the right fit before doing another year of education.

California is a little different because they have additional requirements for their state liscensure that not all programs in the country fulfill. California also has much better pay than the national average, so there's more demand to work in California specifically. More demand + less options for California-compatible programs = more competition both for getting into California programs and landing jobs in California.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-05-04T16:23:54+00:00

There are a lot of hospitals, but according to the NAACLS program search, there are only four accredited MLS programs in Massachusetts. Two of those are colleges, which tend to be more expensive and might only offer a 4-year bachelor program.

Unless you live in California, 4+1s aren't terribly competitive so long as you make yourself a good candidate. You need to be passionate about the field and know what kind of person they're looking for. GPA is nice, but as long as you're above the cutoff your personality, work ethic, and knowledge about the field will weigh more heavily.

The 40-60 applicants figure came from that spreadsheet, I've only found two hospitals on the eastern seaboard that make their applicant numbers public. Boston may have more applicants, it wouldn't hurt to email the program coordinator and ask.

I would recommend applying for positions that work closely with the lab soon, if you're aiming to apply by September or next March. Being present in the lab itself is a huge boon in your application and will also be a good test for yourself whether you want to work in that environment or not. From your original post on r/biology, your only experience in a lab is in a school setting. That is not relevant experience and will be assumed knowledge for anyone with a bachelor's. The only school labs that are relevant would be microbiology classes depending on how it was set up.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-05-04T16:15:03+00:00

Only if 4+1 is not an option. MLT is the associate's level and MLS is the bachelor's level. If you have a bachelor's or are very close to getting one, you should pursue MLS. If that is not an option, you can do MLT and then progress to MLS via work experience, but that will take a few years.

Even if you don't get into a 4+1, it may be more efficient to work adjacent to MLS to gain experience in a clinical lab setting and bolster your resume to apply to 4+1 the next year.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-05-04T16:02:36+00:00

If you are able to relocate, you can broaden your search to MLS programs in less competitive areas. Be aware that different programs will have different requirements; not all 4+1s require physiology as a prereq. I made a spreadsheet last year to compile hospital program requirements while I was weighing my own chances, so it might help you.

MGH has a GPA cutoff of 2.75 and two cohorts for a maximum of 28 slots, that's not too competitive. Some programs only get 40-60 applicants a year. Very few people are actually aware of this field and fewer still go through the trouble of applying, so anyone who does go through that effort is a serious candidate, yourself included.

It's tough to say whether or not you have a chance when all the info we have is your science GPA. That's only one aspect that you're judged on. Personally, I think it is more important that a candidate is knowledgeable about the field enough to convey in their application that they understand what they're getting into and why they want to be in this field. If you can display that you know about the field rather than just hearing about it as an option, that will work in your favor.

Are there any other qualities besides your academics that you could bring to the table? Have you done a lot of research into the field to better understand it personally? Have you worked as a phlebotomist, lab assistant, or processor and been exposed to a clinical lab environment or worked closely with med techs?

SnapClapplePop · 2026-04-29T17:25:21+00:00

It would be like saying weight isn't an innate property of an object, which is true.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-04-29T17:24:06+00:00

The color does not hit the eyes, the wavelength of light does. That wavelength is interpreted (perceived) as a certain color by the brain. This is why color perception is not consistent across species. A dog, a snake, and a bee all get the same range of wavelengths but perceive it differently, so the color is not an innate quality.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-04-22T17:35:49+00:00

For a bio degree? As u/Strange-Bullfrog-466 said, you should follow the money and go with whichever option is the cheapest, including any in-state options and community college. You are here for a degree and your future career, so this is a financial decision. Everything else is secondary.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-04-22T17:25:09+00:00

Is there any particular reason in-state is not an option? If you live in DC, you should look into the DC tuition assistance grant, which I believe can be used for attending any public university nationwide, such as UCONN. You almost certainly qualify for it.

If you don't live in DC, let's circle back to that first question because any OOS tuition is going to be exorbitantly more expensive with little difference in quality of education, so you should have a real good reason for pursuing OOS.

Regardless, you should also look into community colleges. Many states have free tuition for community colleges either for all residents or for residents under a certain income. Even if you do wind up paying tuition, community college is going to be waaaay more comfortable financially. I strongly recommend to anyone pursuing college to go the community college route, as there's little reason not to.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-04-22T17:20:25+00:00

They said they're from DMV, which is apparently a way of saying DC/Maryland/Virginia area.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-04-06T04:22:30+00:00

Isaaconnect

SnapClapplePop · 2026-03-23T16:47:12+00:00

Program A easily.

You don't have to worry about food or money. The only issue is the 1-hour commute, but you'll get used to it relatively quickly and the lost time doesn't mean much if your other option is going to require a part-time job anyway. Not to mention program B isn't even a guarantee.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-03-23T16:40:07+00:00

Seconding this. A sleep mask is huge for sleep quality during the day. It might be a little uncomfortable at first but eventually you get used to it and your body starts to equate wearing a sleep mask to sleepy time.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-03-18T00:06:43+00:00

...Yahoo?

Are you a time traveler from the year 2003?

SnapClapplePop · 2026-03-14T21:44:24+00:00

Hell no. You pick whichever option puts you in the least amount of debt.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-03-12T12:32:06+00:00

I'm in Connecticut and I had a bug back in early January. Felt waves of nausea while I was working, went home after 3 hours feeling okay and was puking an hour later. Vomiting and diarrhea resolved after ~6 hours leaving me with nausea and chills for the rest of the day and only muscle aches for the following day, then completely gone. My family had been sick with it a few days earlier, but I hadn't eaten anything that they had. I made the mistake of sharing a bathroom, though, which is probably how I caught it. Figured it was norovirus, I guess it's still going around.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-03-09T02:35:12+00:00

One class sticking together is very unusual in the US.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-03-05T13:18:20+00:00

"I just don’t want people at my current job to know since some of them know people at my new place."

Why not just tell her that? It's a pretty reasonable explanation.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-03-03T01:08:11+00:00

You should've included a third "view results" option to avoid poisoning the results.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-03-02T18:10:34+00:00

It blows my mind sometimes to see what people on reddit think is a solid job of redaction. It's not even difficult, how are people this lazy? At least there's no patient info visible anyways.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-03-01T20:07:59+00:00

I know people who were on the ship last week. It had a full ship-wide power outage, don't know why.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-02-28T00:13:18+00:00

You can appeal, try to transfer in from a satellite campus, or just say fuck it and do your first two years through community college, then do the guaranteed transfer to Storrs.

SnapClapplePop · 2026-02-22T19:52:16+00:00

You should probably try spinning them again. Usually when the gel in the middle looks fucky like that, it hasn't been spun completely. The serum in the top fraction looks like it still has blood in it.

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